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Chapter 21
A light descended through the darkness.
Within his fading vision, Rosha saw a small light land on the back of his hand and melt away.
The light melted over Rosha’s body like snow. As it did, his dimming vision became a little clearer. His body, which had been stiff and unmoving, twitched ever so slightly.
But it only delayed the moment death seeped in.
“Ha… ugh…”
Clutching his still-bleeding throat, Rosha slipped his hand inside his clothes.
He had to stop Lily and find the vanished Joshua.
In his current condition, it was impossible—but there was exactly one way to make it happen.
“Huu…”
Each time he breathed, blood gushed out, making even breathing difficult. Barely managing, Rosha pulled out the pocket watch hanging around his neck and opened the pendant.
This pocket watch served not only as a timepiece but also had several other functions. It acted as proof of membership in the Golden Dawn Society, and in moments of crisis, it could be used to call for help.
Rosha tried to call Aaron, but his hand slipped, and the small needle pointed to the number ‘3.’
‘Not him…!’
But it was already too late. The pocket watch trembled and emitted light, tearing open a gap in space. From that gap emerged a boy with pitch-black hair, so dark it was indistinguishable from the surrounding darkness.
Black boots pressed down into the snow piled on the ground.
“…Rosha.”
Kashin’s eyes turned toward Rosha. Perhaps because his vision was blurred, Kashin’s face looked almost distorted.
“You…!”
With an angry voice, Kashin’s boots stepped closer and closer.
There was a reason Rosha shouldn’t call Kashin. It wasn’t just because he disliked him—there was also a fatal weakness even someone as perfect as Rostellier had.
Kashin was weak at healing magic.
‘I’m going to die anyway.’
Then at least he had to ask him to find Lily and Joshua.
“Ka… shin…”
“Shut up!”
Kashin practically barked at him as he reached for Rosha’s neck. But compared to his other abilities, Kashin’s healing magic was trivial. Rosha felt his body stiffen again. His tongue felt paralyzed, and no more words came out.
The light falling from the sky could no longer sustain him. Just as the death he had barely avoided began to approach him again, he felt a touch once more.
This time, it was different from before. It felt like a different person entirely—magic with a presence unlike Kashin’s.
Unlike Kashin’s cold energy, this magic was warm and gentle as it caressed Rosha’s throat. The blood disappeared as if washed away, and the torn flesh healed.
The fading spark of life reignited.
“Gasp!”
Rosha inhaled sharply, as if his breath had nearly stopped. With his face buried in the snow, he panted heavily while someone gently patted his back.
Once he calmed down a little, Rosha lifted his head to check the light he had seen. Perhaps because his vision had been failing in the face of death, what was falling from the sky wasn’t light—but snowflakes.
“Are you alright?”
At the voice from behind, Rosha turned, a beat too late, to look at the one who had healed him.
“…Kashin.”
Standing there was none other than Kashin.
But what Rosha had felt was definitely not Kashin’s magic. And even his expression was different from usual.
“You… who are you?”
Rosha immediately realized that the man with Kashin’s face was not Kashin. Kashin would never wear such a gentle expression. Despite his dizziness, Rosha grabbed the staff that had fallen to the ground and took a combat stance.
The man with Kashin’s face looked flustered, then stood up and bowed politely.
“My name is Abel.”
“Abel…?”
“I’m Kashin’s twin brother.”
“Where’s Kashin? He was just here.”
“Ah, well…”
With an awkward smile, Abel pointed to his own chest.
“He’s in here.”
Is this guy insane?
But Abel spoke with a face more serious than anyone else’s.
“Kashin and I share one body.”
Hehe… hehe…
The mischievous smile didn’t leave the girl’s face as she descended the hill.
I did it! I killed one of those disgusting Rostelliers myself!
The girl skipped lightly, humming a tune.
“Poor Rosha! Poor Rostellier! To die by your little sister’s hand—how pitiful!”
Her giggling laughter stopped when she spotted bright silver hair in the distance.
Dolla, inside Lily’s body, silently curled her lips into a smile as she approached the boy crouching beneath a tree.
If he had truly been disappointed in that Rostellier, he should have gone far enough to be out of sight. Yet here he was, crouching so close by.
‘He’s waiting for her.’
What a shame—she had already sent that woman back into the arms of the god she served.
After a brief moment of thought, Dolla smiled and tapped Joshua on the shoulder. Joshua, who had been crouching alone in the cold, lifted his head.
“Hello, Joshua?”
“……”
“Waiting for our sister?”
Joshua carefully examined Lily’s body—no, the shell—and his eyes sharpened.
“You’re not Rosha’s real sister.”
He had recognized the false soul controlling Lily’s body. Dolla’s eyes widened in surprise before she tilted her head.
“Oh my, you figured it out?”
“I’ll tell her everything. I’ll tell Rosha you’re not her sister!”
“Pfft!”
“……”
“Do you think ‘our sister’ will believe you?”
Dolla deliberately used the term “our sister.”
“If you tell her I’m fake, I’ll say you tried to harm me.”
“……”
“Who do you think our sister will believe?”
Joshua’s golden eyes trembled. Even he thought Rosha wouldn’t believe him—but would believe the impostor instead.
Rosha had been trying to be kind to him, but it was kindness born of effort. The only time she had shown genuine emotion toward him was when she suspected and interrogated him.
“Ro… Rosha…”
Dolla leaned close to his ear and whispered with a smile in her voice.
“To Rosha Rostellier, you’re worse than a fake.”
That was the final blow.
Joshua had waited for Rosha for a long time.
In a world where everyone feared and avoided him, he had lived in isolation, whether he wanted to or not. In that situation, Rosha was his only hope. In the illusions shown by the shadows, she had cherished him and treated him as precious.
She was the only one who didn’t fear him despite knowing everything—that alone made her special to him. So when he first met her, he had secretly hoped—
For the gentle warmth she would offer him.
But Rosha was not what he expected. Rather than warm, she was cold. Still, Joshua didn’t mind. He was grateful enough that she didn’t fear him or avoid him.
He believed that if he tried hard enough, she would eventually open her heart to him, just like in the illusions. So Joshua acted like a good child in front of her.
But…
“I’m nothing to her.”
Fantasy and reality were different.
“I’m just a burdensome nuisance she was forced to take in!”
No matter how hard he tried, he was nothing more than a burden to Rosha—nothing more, nothing less.
“Our poor son of God—”
Dolla circled around Joshua restlessly.
“Think about it. There must have been at least one time your sister showed you even the slightest bit of attention, right?”
Attention…
Joshua knew that he came second when it came to her priorities about her sister. But he also knew Rosha wasn’t completely indifferent to him.
Because watching him was her duty.
Aside from that obligatory vigilance, there had been only one time Rosha had interacted with him from the heart.
When the demon appeared in her room.
It was already too late to receive the kind of positive attention he had seen in illusions. But negative attention—that was different.
“Call the shadows. Hurry, command the demon!”
“……”
“Destroy this village filled with nothing but painful memories!”
The shadows that had been silently observing began to shout in unison.
〔We’re ready, Joshua!〕
〔Call us!〕
〔We’ll draw Rostellier’s attention for you!〕
Just like that day when she interrogated him, thinking he had summoned the demon—
If he summoned a demon now…
‘She’ll truly pay attention to me.’
Even if that attention was contempt—
“Come to me.”
Joshua called upon the shadows beside him and the countless seeds of malice that had been crying out to him from afar.
“You can destroy everything.”
Before long, all the darkness that had spread across the land began rushing together toward the ground where the snow would not melt.
